Physics 511A, 2014: Chapter 1, Volume 2. The principle of relativity
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Back to Physics 511A, 2014: Graduate Electrodynamics.
Sections 1-5, 7 will be largely covered in class. Much of section 6 will be your own responsibility.
Homework Questions
- Problem about uniform relativistic acceleration after Section 7.
- Prove that is maximal if taken along a straight world line that connects and .
- Derive the formula for length contraction using the Lorentz transform.
- Suppose we denote a matrix that performs the Lorentz transformation as . Do Lorentz transformations commute? Do they add? That is, is equal to ? Verify this by direct construction.
- Derive the formula for aberration of light when transforming to a new coordinate system.
- Prove by direct computation that .